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Description: | British seaman served as stoker with Anson Bn Royal Naval Division in GB, on Western Front and at Gallipoli, 1914-1916; served aboard HMS Arab in North Sea, based at Scapa Flow in GB coastal waters, 1916; served aboard HMS Wolf in Irish Sea, 1917-1918
REEL 1 Work as engineer in Salford and Manchester area, 1912-1913. Recruitment as stoker into Royal Navy at Deansgate Recruiting Office, Manchester, 9/1913: reasons for enlistment and proceedure. Recollections of period of training at Keyham Barracks, Plymouth, 9/1913-2/1914: reception; barrack messroom accommodation; hammock storage.
REEL 2 Continues: hammocks; mess fittings; ditty box; question of prevalence of theft in barracks and aboard ship; uniforms issued; personalised uniform; Aggie Weston's sailors' rest facilities.
REEL 3 Continues: Aggie Weston's sailors' rest facilities; uniform alterations; education classes; training sections; reveille; hammock storage; washing; morning parade.
REEL 4 Continues: fatigues; role of naval pensioners and question of their stealing from ration stores; effect of fluctuating numbers on mess arrangements; weekend pass system and story illustrating possibility of bribery to secure passes; breakfast and general food messing system; mess cleaning.
REEL 5 Continues: drill; exercise runs; training in proper method of washing; swimming lessons; dinner; canteen; tea; watch system.
REEL 6 Continues: watch duties; washing, drying and marking clothing; kit inspections and the replacement of missing kit; breaking leave and its punishment; story of being inadvertently late back from leave.
REEL 7 Continues: story of being inadvertently late back from leave; naval police patrol duties; role of master at arms; punishments; crown and anchor; question of drunkenness; recreations; pay.
REEL 8 Continues: recreations; theoretical and practical training aboard HMS Amphitrite; qualification as 2nd Class Stoker; dockyard working parties and cleaning boilers.
REEL 9 Continues: dockyard working parties and greasing engine rooms; drafting proceedure. Recollections of period aboard HMS Rinaldo based at Devonport, 2/1914-8/1914: role towing gunnery targets; morale; duties trimming coal bunkers; coaling ship; stokers' mess; role as target in torpedo exercise.
REEL 10 Continues: Aspects of recall to Devonport Barracks, 8/1914: crowded conditions; volunteering to join Royal Naval Bde. Posting to C Coy Anson Bn Royal Naval Div and initial movements in GB, 8/1914-10/1914. Recollections of operations in Antwerp area, Belgium, 10/1914: arrival and move up into trenches; uniform and equipment; appointment as cook; false alarms; abandoned farm house; withdrawal to Antwerp; effect of air raids; disorganisation and scattering of unit during march into Antwerp.
REEL 11 Continues: disorganisation and scattering of unit during march into Antwerp; situation; train journey via Brussels to Ostend; return to GB; cooking and food rations issued in trenches; nature of trenches. Issue of khaki uniform on return to GB, 10/1914. Recollections of operations at Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 4/1915-1/1916: clearing and burial of corpses whilst acting as beach party at W Beach, 25/4/1915-26/4/1915; shellfire from Asiatic Annie; front line positions in Achi Baba Nullah sector; French Senagalese troops; nature of trenches; failure of Turkish attack, 5/1915.
REEL 12 Continues: sniping plates; making tea and sniper problem in carryting it up to front line; story of being wounded in leg and wrist, 19/5/1915; food rations; water supply; return to Gallipoli and posting to Collingwood Bn, 6/1915; relationship with Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel; situation; automatic rifle ruse used during evacuation, 1/1916.
REEL13 Continues: Recollections of period as stoker aboard HMS Arab based at Scapa Flow, Scotland, GB, 7/1916-12/1916: role of torpedo boat destroyer; patrols in North Sea; boiler room stoking duties; methods of changing speed; use of evaporator to boost water supply; problems in bad weather; absence of ventialtion; operation of evaporators and engine room duties; air pressure in boiler room.
REEL14 Continues: conditions in boiler room; working clothes; stokers' mess; coal dust and washing; messing food and accounting systems; use of fish to supplement food stores carried on patrols; rum ration.
REEL15 Continues: stokers' mess rooom; recreations; absence of shore leave; boiler cleaning; coaling; absence of recreational facilities at Scapa Flow; paying off ship, 12/1916. Recollections of period as stoker aboard HMS Wolf, 7/1917-12/1918: role escorting mailboat across Irish Sea; illustrations of relaxed discipline.
REEL16 Continues: coaling ship; storm damage and period in dry dock at Glasgow; armistice, 11/11/1918; voyage to Devonport an paying off, 12/1918. Various aspects of service, 1914-1918: relationship with seaman branch ratings; question of accidents and prevalence of tuberculosis; comparison of conditions of service on destroyers and battleships.
REEL17 Continues: attitude to different kinds of war service; tobacco ration; discipline and relationship with officers and petty officers; sundown ceremony; church parades; reaction to outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Royal Naval Reserve personnel drafted into Royal Naval Div, 1914; use of Royal Naval Reserve personnel in older ships.
REEL18 Continues: reaction to news of Battle of Jutland; submarine and mine warfare; question of promotion prospects; religious arrangements for Roman Catholics. Accelerated demobilisation and securing work at timber sawmill, 1919. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Leary, James | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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